Mt. Hood Territory, lodge a Shining destination

Who can forget the opening scene of Stanley Kubrick’s 1980 cult classic horror film The Shining as a single car gradually climbs the forested foothills of the Cascade Range towards a snow-capped mountain in the distance.

When the car finally arrives near the top of the mountain, there’s a shot of the fictional hotel called the Overlook.

Author Stephen King was inspired to write the paranormal story of a crazed winter caretaker in a remote, snowbound hotel after staying in the Stanley Hotel in Estes Park, Colorado in 1973.

The Stanley Hotel would later play up its Shining tie-in by offering daily ghost tours, an in-house psychic and even built a hedge maze allowing guests to experience the film’s climax when the demonic caretaker, played by Jack Nicholson, chases his son with an axe through the maze.

The Timberline Lodge is the only National Historic Landmark in the United States still being used for what it was built for, as a ski lodge. (Kim Pemberton photo)

But the real hotel used for the film’s main exterior shots is the Timberline Lodge in Mt. Hood Territory in northwest Oregon, an hour and a half away from Portland. (The labyrinth shots in The Shining were filmed at a studio in England.) Unless you are a horror film fanatic, few visitors to Timberline would see obvious signs that this Historic National Landmark lodge is also linked to The Shining.

Sure there are Shining T-shirts for sale in the gift store, one small movie poster in an historical exhibit about the lodge and an axe behind the lobby’s front counter, hidden out of sight, with the words “Here’s Johnny!” But most of the two million visitors who come to the Timberline Lodge annually aren’t here because of The Shining, says John Burton, the hotel’s director of marketing.

Guests can ask to pose with an axe, which replicates the one used by Jack Nicholson in The Shining. Kim Pemberton photo

Instead, the lodge attracts visitors interested in the history of Mt. Hood, the beauty of the Pacific northwest region, and for the fact Mt. Hood has the longest ski season in North America.

“This is the only National Historic Landmark hotel still being used as it was intended as a ski lodge. “You come here and have a little history lesson without knowing it,” says Burton.

The Timberline Lodge is a monumental masterpiece, built in 18 months by at least 400 men and women who got much-needed jobs from this make-work project during the Great Depression.

The lodge was dedicated on Sept. 28, 1937 by President Franklin D. Roosevelt and was known as “The People’s Lodge.”

The Timberline still has fireplace mesh screens that were once the tire chains used by workers when the hotel was built. Kim Pemberton photo

You can still see the Craftsman-style chair, built for the president to sit on that day, on display. In fact, all of the furnishings, curtains, hardware, lighting and artifacts are also true to the period, if not original. The Timberline Lodge is an impressive step back into time that stays true to its beginnings with the help of someone no other hotel in the United States has on staff – a full-time curator, says Burton.

The lodge has always belonged to the U.S. Forest Service, which issues permits to hotel operators to run the facility. But when the Second World War happened, the Timberline was shut down for eight years and went into “massive disrepair, so bad that animals were living in the building,” he says.

By 1952 there was even talk of the Forest Service cutting their losses and burning the Timberline, but they were convinced by a local businessman to issue just one more permit. Lucky for us they did.

The 70-room Timberline Lodge, which sleeps 220, has became the quintessential northwest headquarters for skiers, hikers and outdoor enthusiasts to rest in a unique, rustic setting surrounded by spectacular mountain scenery. The Pacific Crest Trail, which runs from Mexico to Canada, passes directly behind the lodge.

The pool with Mt. Hood in the background. Timberline Lodge is open year-round and a great place for guests to relax after a day of skiing. Kim Pemberton photo

Located halfway up one of the ski runs of Mt. Hood, with an elevation of 3,427 metres, Timberline also has a panoramic view of the Cascades Range below. Snow can be so plentiful on Mt. Hood that the lodge erects a special structure in winter around the front door allowing guests to gain entry past massive snow drifts.

Old photos show skiers on top of the lodge’s roof, continuing their downhill ski run of the mountain (the Timberline’s front door can be buried in as much as 182 metres of snow). A tour of the lodge shows how its three main themes – Native Americans, Oregon pioneer spirit and native floral and fauna – are incorporated throughout, often with quirky back-stories. For instance, Burton points out how the metal screens to stop embers from escaping the massive fireplaces are actually the chain links from snow tires from the 1930s, and the 13 stair newel posts, carved with different animals on top, were made from telephone poles.

When you first enter the Timberline, the main door has a carving of a Native American with beadwork around his neck – but on closer inspection you see the beadwork is actually the initials of the building’s architects and engineers.

There’s also something not quite right about the elaborate mosaic in the lobby which reveals a brown-faced skunk, which happened after the artist ran out of black tiles.

Graphic artist Douglas Lynch carved nine linoleum drawings. In this one, his own story of how his wife left him for another man is depicted. Kim Pemberton photo

Much of the museum-quality original paintings also tell interesting stories. Like how graphic artist Douglas Lynch depicted one of his personal dramas in one of the nine carved linoleum drawings he made for the cafeteria, now a games room. That particular artwork depicts his wife dancing with the man she left him for, showing Lynch on the sideline watching.

Historical details are everywhere in the lodge. The beautiful hand-woven curtains replicate the first curtains used at the hotels, which were blankets issued to the workers who built the lodge.

The lodge’s unique laid-back style and charm adds to an atmosphere where some guests even hang out in their pyjamas in public spaces, says Burton.

“This lodge creates a sense of place and comfort where people can really kick back. You don’t see that at the Four Seasons.”

Other Points of Interest in Mt. Hood Territory:

The Mt. Hood Territory, also known simply as The Territory, has much to offer visitors from the snowy peaks of Mt. Hood and the Mt. Hood National Forest, with more than 1,900 kilometres of trails, to the mountain-fed rivers in the Willamette Valley below.

— The End of the Oregon Trail Interpretative Centre, in Oregon City, is one of many places in The Territory to learn about the historic Oregon Trail. (The heritage trail has 25 sites that can be visited throughout The Territory.) This year marks the 175th commemoration of the Oregon trail, that transformed the west when more than 350,000 19th-Century emigrants headed west from Missouri on oxen-drawn covered wagons, ending their 3,200-kilometre journey at Oregon City, Oregon. More information available at www.historicoregoncity.org

— A stop to see the Willamette Falls, the second largest waterfall by volume in the United States after Niagara, clarifies why the early pioneers ended their journey here. One such pioneer who recognized the power of the falls was Dr. John McLoughlin, a French-Canadian, who arrived here 25 years before the Oregon Trail began and used the waterfall as a source of energy for his lumber mill. McLoughlin home’s was moved in 1910 from the waterfront and was made a museum that same year. You can still have guided tours of the home for free in Oregon City. www.mcloughlinhouse.org

— Wildwood Recreation Site, located on the Mt. Hood Scenic Byway, has one of the best, accessible interpretive trails, that includes an underwater native fish viewing station in their natural habitat. https://www.blm.gov/visit/wildwood-recreation-site

IF YOU GO

The cost of staying at the Timberline Lodge can range from US$180 (off season) to US$350 during the peak season. For more information, visit www.timberlinelodge.com.

For more information on other accommodations, restaurants, sightseeing and special events in Mt. Hood, go to www.mthoodterritory.com.

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